[cowpony]

Today I was having a lot of trouble with Galen pulling on his leash. At one point he tried to chase some robins and hit the end of his leash, hard. I turned him around walked 100 feet in the opposite direction at a brisk clip. No robins for Galen.

I spent the rest of the walk practicing leash manners. Whenever he got ahead of me and pulled, I just stopped dead. I stood there until he turned and took a step back to me. In contrast, when he stayed next to me, sometimes I would stop for no reason at all. If he was paying attention and sat down promptly he got a treat.

So, we continued ambling along in this manner with frequent stops until we saw a utility crew. Wow, interesting, check it out! Galen strained forward to check on the workmen, and I stopped dead because he was yanking on my arm. Same deal as the rest of the walk, just something more interesting ahead. Galen turned around to see why I'd stopped. Then he gave the loudest sigh I've ever heard him utter and moved over to position himself at my heel. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing at his exasperation.

Of course I gave him a treat and let him walk over to the inspect the work site. I even took him on a little detour so that he could sneak up on a chipmunk hole without needing to pull on his leash. Might as well make it fun to be a good dog.

 

[Newport]

What a dramatic sigh, Galen!
Violet agrees that loose leash walking training can sure be boring, even with treats. Why can’t everything be like agility training?

 

[Dechi]

I’m glad it’s working with Galen ! I’ve been doing the same with Beckie and it’s not really working. Mind you she’s on a flexi leash so maybe not the right technique.

She’s learned that when I stop, she needs to come back towards me and she does. But she will go to the end of the leash over and over and yank on my arm. She’s 8 pounds and it hurts. I can’t imagine with a spoo...

 

[cowpony]

I’m glad it’s working with Galen ! I’ve been doing the same with Beckie and it’s not really working. Mind you she’s on a flexi leash so maybe not the right technique.

She’s learned that when I stop, she needs to come back towards me and she does. But she will go to the end of the leash over and over and yank on my arm. She’s 8 pounds and it hurts. I can’t imagine with a spoo...

We still have a way to go. He's still an adolescent, after all. However, I do think that having a set leash length helps him know his limit. There is never any tugging to see if he can get the leash to extend a few more inches.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

However, I do think that having a set leash length helps him know his limit. There is never any tugging to see if he can get the leash to extend a few more inches.

Absolutely. Yesterday Peggy thought she was tied up (she wasn't) and she wouldn't go past her usual leash boundary until I encouraged her.

Another thing I've heard helps is rewarding them whenever there's a nice "J" in the leash, thereby creating positive associations with the feel/weight of it hanging down from their collar. A super lightweight flexi-leash may not communicate this as clearly.

 

[For Want of Poodle]

Interestingly, for a long time Annie had better manners on a flexi than a 6' leash. She still walks really well on it, though I use it less now.

Annie would agree with Galen about the sadness of human walking habits. I'm bad enough, but she's had to learn a new trick recently - on walks with Mom and Trixie (who are SO SLOW in her opinion) when I stop to wait, she stops, sniffs around, and the MOMENT Mom catches up (one sidewalk square behind us), starts walking again. Happened once, Mom thought it was a coincidence - nope. Did it the next 3 times too. If you have to wait for the SLOW dog, might as well get a good sniff out of it, I guess.

 

[Basil_the_Spoo]

Ah... sounds like my walk with Basil today. I'm in the same boat. I need to sharpen up so she can be a better citizen. It's encouraging to read everyones posts because there's so much applied poodle experience to use ontop of youtube training videos.